Heh.
GOP U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson Tuesday brushed off reports he was paid by the Democratic Party for campaign work as late as 2002, despite previously claiming he was “absolutely sure” he was not a Dem after speaking at the party’s 2000 national convention.
Federal Election Commission filings show the GOP U.S. Senate candidate was paid a total of $7,315 in 2002 by the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party for administrative and voter drive work.
Nicholson questioned the significance of him being paid by the party in 2002 given previous reporting showing he was a registered Democrat in 2004. Records show he registered as a Dem when he moved to North Carolina in 2005.
“Whatever campaign work I did in 2002 predates 2004, so why we’re even talking about this I don’t know,” Nicholson told reporters after a WisPolitics.com luncheon at the Madison Club. “I wasn’t happy with the Democratic Party. I didn’t think they had common sense, but I wasn’t ready to give up on a label at that point in my life. But I got there in a relatively short amount of time.”
We’re talking about it, Mr. Nicholson, because you were not just a Democrat… you were an activist, paid Democrat functionary… until you weren’t. But there isn’t any evidence of you putting that much effort into being a Republican… ever. And now you want my vote to be elected to one of the highest political offices in the state.
It’s an issue for me.
The parties should be able to decide who is allowed to use their brand. Candidates should have to prove themselves and be accepted into a political party, rather than saying they are a member of one party or another.